An unrecorded and exceptionally early daguerreian circular, providing evidence of the activities of a little known itinerant daguerreotypist in 1841. Van Deusen was “the earliest known professional ‘shadow catcher’ in New Jersey…who rented a room on the northeast corner of Warren and State streets in Trenton in February 1841.....
An engraved invitation to Lincoln's second inaugural ball, filled out with the name of Mrs. Hugh McCulloch, the wife of Lincoln’s Comptroller of Currency (and later Secretary of the Treasury), accompanied by the original envelope addressed to Hugh McCulloch. Portraits of Lincoln and Andrew Johnson appear above a list.....
An official printing of an 1845 treaty, concluded and ratified under President James K. Polk, relating to the Creek lands in Florida, rectifying a treaty of 1833 which grouped the Creeks and Seminoles together and misled the Creeks with regard to the lands they would be given. The result was.....
A rare handbill advertising the short-lived school of art conducted by James McNeill Whistler and Frederick MacMonnies in Paris. Printed in English on one side and French on the other, it advertises classes in painting, sculpture, and drawing modéle vivant all day (with night lessons available as well). Interested parties.....
A fundraising circular for Mary McLeod Bethune’s all-black Bethune Cookman College in Florida. Celebrated African-American educator, stateswoman, philanthropist and civil rights activist Mary McLeod Bethune (1875–1955)—fondly known as “The First Lady of The Struggle”—is best known for founding this private college for black students in Daytona Beach, Florida. Born.....
A charming broadside advertising the services of American silhouettist Moses Chapman, illustrated with silhouette cuts of a man and a woman and specifying costs and other particulars. Chapman informs the public that he is available from 8:00 am to 9:00 pm, and takes “correct Profiles, reduced to any size.....
A large illustrated circular promoting a Wild West-cum-circus show in New York City produced by Adam Forepaugh. Adam Forepaugh (1831–1890) was one of the great circus organizers of 19th century America from immediately after the Civil War until his death in 1890. Forepaugh is generally credited with devising the.....
A prospectus for a book relating to the establishment of the constitution of the state of Pennsylvania, with a letter by the publisher, Francis R. Shunk, who later served as the tenth governor of Pennsylvania. The book in question—estimated to contain about 500 pages—was to include minutes of the.....
A scarce advertising circular featuring an appeal from the women of the United Garment Workers of America to union men to buy the union-manufactured trousers of Sweet, Orr & Co. in order to support the organization and ensure humane working conditions. The cover illustration depicts a carpenter at work wearing.....
A song sheet mourning President Lincoln, set to Stephen Foster’s tune Under the Willow. Upham’s lines crown Lincoln a “martyr” and call for national mourning: “Drape every dwelling in sable night: / Symbol of deep lamentation!” In addition, the song calls for “a garland of lilies white” to be.....
A song sheet mourning President Lincoln, set to Stephen Foster’s tune Under the Willow. The “bewailing” nation is here characterized as crying for “Lincoln, the merciful, doomed to die.” The first chorus calls for the punishment of John Wilkes Booth and crowns Lincoln a “martyr”: “Strike, strike the traitor.....